A House!

We are no longer homeless!  At least by Thursday.  We put a deposit on a house last night and we sign the lease and get the keys on Thursday.  Oh happy day!  Actually, we are staying in the hotel until our stuff gets delivered and right now we still don't know when that will be, but I'm so happy!

I didn't share with you that one of the houses we looked at was tucked back in a neighborhood.  To get to it, you make a turn off one of the main roads, and on that corner was a Bernina Quilt Shop!  That isn't the house that we chose, however.  Of the 4 we looked at, 2 had just a bedroom for my quilt studio.  The one by Bernina had a bonus room (it used to be the garage, but was closed off years ago, and looked nothing like a garage) but where the garage door had been, it had a long bank of windows.  It would have been a nice studio space.  Above that space was a loft.  It had no windows and a slopey roof line, but it could have been the "fabric storage room" with my "work/play"space below.  I really liked that house--it was right adjacent to a large pond, too, and so pretty.  It was an older ranch-style house, though, and while I could have been quite happy, my husband wanted more of an open-floorplan.

Our house-to-be is newer and open.  I can't believe I forgot to take a picture of the outside!  I will do so soon.  I do have photos of the studio space, though.  It is the bonus room over the garage.  It has a double window sort of high up, which will provide lots of light, but not low enough that the sun could shine in my eyes.  It is down a few steps from the rest of the second floor, and there is a short staircase up into the attic (lots of storage space in there for our Christmas decs, etc.!)  The studio space also has a nice-sized closet.

This is the view when I came down the stairs from the second floor and look right.  You can see the steps and door to the attic.  I really like that nice space to the left of the stairs.  It is a perfect nook for something--maybe my scrapbooking cabinet.

Another view of that great nook and the start of the wall opposite the other stairs.

This is the whole wall opposite the stairs.  It has a window, too!  I love the wood floor!  No carpet to hook spilled pins!

This is the wall at the front of the house, opposite the attic steps.  The bottom of the window is probably nearly 4.5 feet off the floor--maybe more.  I think it is just above my shoulder.  I think I will have my machine set up along this wall.  I would love to find a table that just fits inside that space under the window.  Have I ever shared that I'm a person who really wants somthing to fit a space exactly?  When we got a new entertainment center, we also got a new tv and I didn't care one bit about the "quality of the picture," the brand, or any other features.  I shopped with my measuring tape to find the one that fit the space as completely as possible.  But I digress....

This is the final wall--the one that shares with the steps down from the second floor (you can sort of see them just to the left.  You can see the nice closet!

The closet only has a bar and self above it.  Perfect!  I think my shelves for my stash will fit in underneath, and I can keep the fabric closed up away from dust and sun.



I'm thinking that I would love some sort of island for my cutting, and then I need to decide on a pressing station.  Needless to say, I'm spending my extra time looking all over the internet for great studio space ideas.  Have you seen the idea for an island where you take two shorter dressers and put them back-to-back and then top them with a work surface?  I'm considering that.  I'm also searching through Craigs List.  I don't want to spend a lot of money and you just never know what you might find out there!

I would LOVE to hear from you with any suggestions or other tips/tricks that you employ in your own quilting space or have come across in blogland!

Thanks,
JoAnne